You must pass a formal comprehensive examination before being admitted to candidacy for the PhD. This examination, which consists of both a written and oral component, is administered by your advisory committee according to the procedures and policies given in this section. Grade Requirement You are required to achieve at least a B+ average grade (3.3 GPA) in the Second-Year core courses. Failure to meet this requirement will result in a remedial measure to be imposed by your Advisory Committee. The choice of remedial measure is at the discretion of the Advisory Committee but could involve retaking a course, completing an independent study or assignment in the area of deficiency. Any remediation must be completed before you begin the Comprehensive Examination. Timing You are expected to complete the written comprehensive examination (“Writtens”) at the beginning of your third year or as soon as possible following completion of the second-year core courses. Your advisor is responsible for reporting the examination results to both the examinee and the committee members. Following successful completion of the Writtens, you must schedule the oral comprehensive examination (“Orals”). If you are required to remediate, then you must complete the prescribed remedial measures before taking your comprehensive examination. You are expected to have made substantial progress on the relevant literature review, although it is not necessary for you to have any novel results nor even a specific research proposal. The comprehensive examination is separate from the dissertation proposal and must be completed prior to the presentation of the proposal. Parts, Scope and Time Allowed To begin the comprehensive examinations, you and your major professor notify the Director of Graduate Studies that you are ready, and you call a meeting of your advisory committee for the purpose of planning the comprehensive exam. At that meeting, you will give a short presentation (15 minutes) and/or write-up (1 or 2 pages) on your area of research. Also at that meeting, the advisory committee will discuss your record, whether any remediation is warranted, and the scheduling of the comprehensive exam. The comprehensive examination is an inclusive examination within your field of study. It must consist of two parts: one written, and one oral. Both parts of the exam are formulated and administered by your dissertation advisory committee. The major professor coordinates the administration of the written portion of the exam by soliciting questions from each committee member. Each committee member submits a separate part of this exam component consisting of one or more questions to be taken under requirements (e.g., time limit, open book/closed book, etc.) specified by the committee member. The entire written portion of the exam must be completed over a period of time no longer than two weeks. Questions may be related to the examinee’s intended research topic or may be general questions related to the second year PhD core. Each committee member is responsible for grading his/her own part of the exam. The student’s advisor will collect pass/fail votes on the written section of the exam and report the result to the examinee to the committee members. Upon passing the written exam, the student will schedule the date of the oral component of the exam. In general, feedback on the written section of the exam should not be given to the examinee before the oral component. However, a committee member may choose to give him/her the option to brush up on weak areas exposed in the written component and then re-test them during the oral component. During the oral component of the exam, committee members may ask questions rooted in the written component of the exam, but it is not meant to be an extension of the written component. All committee members are encouraged to ask questions on additional topics. Two hours should be scheduled for the oral component of the exam, and all committee members must be present. An examination of your dissertation prospectus (proposal) takes place on a date after the oral comprehensive examination and may not take the place of the oral comprehensive examination. All members of your advisory committee must be present simultaneously for the oral examination and prospectus (proposal) presentation. The oral comprehensive examination is open to all members of the faculty and shall be announced by the Graduate School. The Director of Graduate Studies must notify the Graduate School of the time and place of the examination at least two weeks before the date of the examination. Grading Your PhD advisory committee has responsibility for evaluating your performance on the Comprehensive Exam. In accordance with Graduate School rules, each committee member assigns pass/fail grades separately for the written and oral portions of the exam. You must pass both the oral and written portions with no more than one “fail” vote in each case. An abstention is not an appropriate vote, The results of both examinations will be reported to the Graduate School within two weeks following the oral examination. Subject to the committee’s discretion, passing grades may be assigned conditional on remedial measures to address a particular area of weakness. For example, you may be required to complete additional coursework and/or directed reading. In the case that you fail either the oral or written components, you may re-attempt either component(s) one time. Failure of either component more than once will result in your being dismissed from the PhD program.
